Using the STAR method, tell me about the most significant problem you faced and solved.
Many interviewers like to apply the STAR method during discussions with their candidates. If you are not sure what STAR is:
- Situation: talk about a challenge you have faced
- Task: an overview of what you set out to achieve
- Action: a brief on what you did, or how you assessed the situation
- Result: the outcome of the steps that you took
Keep your STAR example workplace related, and keep your response organized, helping you to avoid rambling.
"In my first year of working as an O&G administrator, I was asked to update and manage our Well Files into digital files. The job was daunting, so I broke the task alphabetically, and then by region. From there, I started to build the file database. The job took me about three months and, in the end, my manager was thrilled. The result was that the organized file system saved our department many hours of time when searching for oil-well specific data."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I had a green belt project that we had to improve the amount of time it was taking for the engineer to order (ETO) orders, they wanted to reduce the time by about half overall of the amount of time it was taking for the ETO process. I got together a team that was in the section of P.O. to scheduling the kick-off meeting and we found that there were issues with the communication and each person was receiving 30-50 Order Acknowledgement e-mails a day so they couldn't tell which ones were ETO. We were able to create a custom report that showed them what they needed and helped them to not miss any orders and helped with the deadline.
Kristine's Feedback
Good answer! You can enhance your response by providing more details about your action, specifically by discussing the report you created and by elaborating on the outcome. Did your team reduce the ETO process time by half? I assisted with wording, but it's important to check the updated version for accuracy.
I had a green belt project where we had to improve the amount of time it was taking for engineers to place (ETO) orders. Management wanted to reduce the time by about half the overall amount of time it was taking for the ETO process. I got together a team in the P.O. section to schedule a kick-off meeting. During the meeting, we found that there were significant communication issues. Each person was receiving 30-50 Order Acknowledgement e-mails a day, so they couldn't tell which ones were ETO. We were able to create a custom report that showed employees which emails were ETO, which helped them not to miss any orders and helped with the deadline.